The property developer’s new building will be completed in 2023 and will be located in one of the most up-and-coming areas of Valencia, opposite Avenida de Las Cortes Valencianas and next to the Palacio de Congresos.
Kronos Homes has started work on its Ikon project. The property developer’s new building will be completed in 2023 and will be located in one of the most up-and-coming areas of Valencia, opposite Avenida de Las Cortes Valencianas and next to the Palacio de Congresos.
After obtaining the construction license in February, the project will now commence with the earthmoving and foundation work, which will be carried out by the company Rodio Kronsa. Ikon, designed by Ricardo Bofill, will be the tallest residential building in Valencia. Its two towers, which are scheduled for completion in 2023, will have 30 and 14 floors, with 142 and 61 homes, respectively.
Currently, in Spain, ten macro-urbanisations are being built with more than 300 units each. Large property developers such as Neinor, ASG and Stoneweg are behind these projects, which also include homes for rent.
Until the end of March, the date on which Covid-19 brought the habitual performance of almost every activity in Spain to a standstill, there were more than 4,800 new construction projects underway across the country, comprising 131,471 homes, according to data from the real estate big data platform Brainsre.
Of those more than 131,000 homes under construction, more than half form part of so-called large developments, i.e. projects with more than 50 units. That means that almost 800 macro-projects, comprising 75,630 homes, are being built to respond to the shortage of existing new build homes on offer. This has been reflected in the price trends, which have been growing at a faster rate than the prices of second-hand properties.
Of the 789 large developments in progress, ten contain more than 300 units. These are unique projects, located in large cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, but there are also examples in Málaga, Bilbao and Tarragona. Together, these ten macro communities will comprise a total of 3,729 homes.
The ‘Twin Towers’ in Madrid
This is one of the most iconic real estate projects currently being constructed in the capital, in addition to being a key residential venture. It is the Skyline project and it consists of two skyscrapers that the high-end property developer Stoneweg is building in the Tetuan neighbourhood, in the north of Madrid. It will comprise 600 homes in total.
“It is a twin tower
development. One of the towers is intended for sale to individuals and is being
marketed by CBRE – it comprises 303 units. The second tower has been sold to
M&G Investments and will initially be used for rental housing”, explains
Diego Montojo, analyst at Brainsre.
With prices ranging from €300,000 to €645,000, construction work began during the first quarter of 2020 and is expected to last until the beginning of 2022. “The building work was halted by Covid-19 but no changes are currently expected to be made to the key delivery dates; in terms of the effect of coronavirus on reservations, there have been no cancellations,” says Montojo.
The largest rental project in Spain
Just one of the ten projects containing more than 300 homes is dedicated entirely to rent. That is the Barcelona Sants residence, owned by Becorp -the real estate agency created by the property developer Corp and Scranton, the investment vehicle owned by the Grifols family. It comprises 421 apartments for let. “This project is still under construction – the building work started during the second quarter of 2018 and the keys are due to be delivered in early 2021. The homes are not yet on the market,” according to the analyst at Brainsre.
Becorp’s complex will have 12 floors and 3,956 square metres of common areas, along with swimming pools, a wellness area and coworking centre.
Neinor, the ‘king’ of
the large projects
Another project comprising more than 400 units is the Sky Homes development being constructed by the listed property developer Neinor Homes in Valencia. The company led by Borja García-Egotxeaga currently has more than 960 homes under construction in the Community of Valencia, of which 417 correspond to a single project, with an investment of €86 million. “The construction work on this project started during the fourth quarter of 2019, after the license was obtained in September; the delivery of the keys is scheduled for the end of 2022”, explains the analyst from Brainsre.
Nor is it the only major project Neinor Homes currently has underway. The company, which had almost 5,000 homes under construction until all building work was suspended by the Government, has two other developments amongst the largest in Spain. They are Bolueta Homes, in Bilbao, comprising 328 units. That is the sixth largest residential project under construction in the country. Work started there during the second quarter of 2019 and with prices starting at €235,000, this macro-project is due to be completed by the end of 2021, according to its developers.
The ninth and tenth largest developments in Spain also bear the seal of the Basque property developer (which has its origins in the real estate portfolio of Kutxabank). The ninth largest is Amara Homes, in the Madrilenian municipality of Las Rozas, comprising 316 homes. Work started on that project at the end of 2019, and with prices starting from €353,100, the company has already managed to sell 295 units. In addition, the firm is developing another project in Malaga (Hacienda Homes), comprising 308 homes and involving an investment of €65 million.
Neinor Homes had planned to deliver between 1,700 to 2,400 homes in 2020.
Meanwhile, the Madrilenian town of San Sebastián de los Reyes is home to the fourth largest new home development in Spain: King, comprising 363 apartments. Its promoter, the company ASG Homes, started work on this macro-project last September, with the aim of completing it in early 2022. The project comprises 363 lofts whose prices start from €157,900. “To date, they have sold about 30,” says Diego Montojo.
Also in Madrid, with 334 homes, the only project carried out under a cooperative system, is ranked in fifth place, namely, Residencial Maravillas. Located in the financial centre of Madrid, a stone’s throw from Paseo de la Castellana and Nuevos Ministerios, this project has been underway for several years since Domo Gestora was awarded the land where the old Artillery Precision Workshop was located in late 2014 for €111 million.
After various legal problems obtaining the building permit, due to complaints from environmental groups, these 334 homes, which have already been assigned to the cooperative members, are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2021.
Behind the remaining two large developments are two new property developers: AQ Acentor and Kronos Homes, which are building the AQ Turianova development, in Valencia, comprising 324 homes; and The Kube, in Tarragona, with 318 units.
In the case of the first, which is the seventh largest development under construction in Spain, 324 units are currently being built, although AQ Acentor’s plans contemplate the construction of 1,200 homes in total. Of those, 544 homes will be social housing properties. “It is a new neighborhood that is being developed in the area. The part of the development called ‘Arcos’ corresponds to private housing and the part called ‘Riodeva’ corresponds to subsidised housing (VPO),” says Montojo. With prices starting at €159,900, the building work was due to start in February 2020 and 30% of the homes have already been sold.
Meanwhile, The Kube project, by Kronos Homes, in Taragona, is the eighth largest residential project. Designed by the DNA Architects studio, 98 of the 318 homes it will comprise have already been sold. “They are deferring payments for customers who have made reservations. For 3 apartments that were about to be reserved, a discount of €20,000 euros has been applied on the condition that the buyers go ahead with their reservations during this lockdown period. In theory, they are not planning to lower their prices, since they were actually planning to raise them in a few months time,” says the analyst from Brainsre.
16 September 2019 – Sergio Ramos, the footballer who plays for Real Madrid, has reached an agreement with Kronos Homes to sell a 51% stake in Desarrollos Inmobiliarios Los Berrocales SL. The developer owns half a million square meters in Vicálvaro, Madrid, and has debts of 39 million euros.
Kronos Homes will buy the 49.99% stake owned by Sergio Ramos himself and another 1% from his father and advisor, José María Ramos. The two invested 6.5 million euros in the real estate developer more than ten years ago. Kronos Homes has agreed to pay €2.5 million for the stake, leaving the footballer with 46,250 square meters of the land.
The fund also agreed to acquire that land at a gross price of 120 euros per square meter within four years, about double the amount Kronos had already paid for Proinsa (€51/m2). In total, therefore, Sergio Ramos will receive eight million euros by 2023. However, Ramos also owes interest on the original €30-million loan from Banco Pastor, totalling approximately 9 million euros.
Kronos Homes sold 111 homes in Spain and Portugal during the first quarter of 2019 and started work on the construction of a new development, Oasis 325, in Estepona (Málaga).
The company plans to take its total investment to €2.4 billion this year, of which €1 billion corresponds to the planned investment in land in both Spain and Portugal.
By the end of 2018, the property development arm of Kronos owned a portfolio of 12,000 homes across 16 developments, which it plans to increase by 4,000 units during 2019 across 24 developments.
Kronos Homes currently has eight projects under construction: Nature and General Marvà in Alicante; The Edge, Horizonte, Panorámica, La Finca and Oasis 325 on the Costa del Sol and H2O in Badalona. It is planning to start work on another 6 projects in Andalucía, Cataluña and Madrid this year.
All of the projects undertaken by Kronos Homes reflect its #Puredesign philosophy and place a special emphasis on good architecture, unique design and the special integration of the environment, whilst ensuring great finishes.
KRONOS HOMES, Kronos’ residential real estate development brand, has started work on its new residential project, Oasis 325, in Estepona. Designed by the architect Joaquin Torres of the A-Cero studio, the development will have 127 2- and 3-bedroom homes, along with penthouses and ground-floor flats with gardens. Prices range between 261,000 and 560,000 euros and, currently, more than 50% of the 127 flats have been sold.
With views of the hills along the Guadalmansa River, Estepona and the Mediterranean Sea; the name Oasis 325 stems from the average number of sunny days per year in the area. The project takes full advantage of the sunlight, with its south-facing orientation, its large glazed areas and terraces that come with every home. In addition, the development has common areas such as a swimming pool and gardens that allow residents to enjoy the Mediterranean climate.
Kronos Homes is committed to high-quality architecture and design in all its projects. In Oasis 325, the A-Cero studio reinterprets the current vogue for minimalist design to offer an architecture that is very much in line with its usual play on volumes. The quality of the materials is complemented by its avant-garde design. Also, the landscape is integrated with its surroundings, using nature as a key element that defines the project’s identity.
A bet on the Costa del Sol
In addition to Oasis 325, Kronos Homes has five more projects underway on the Costa del Sol. This is the area where the company has the largest number of projects underway: The Edge, also in Estepona; Eden in Mijas; Panorámica, in Fuengirola; La Finca (The Farm) in Sotogrande; and Horizonte, in Benalmádena.
KRONOS HOMES has €700 million of investments in land, 12,000 homes in its portfolio and 1.5 million m² of land. The company plans to invest another 200 to 300 million euros by the end of the year, buying additional land and expanding its portfolio of homes to between 15,000 and 17,000 units.
Kronos Homes is Kronos’ real estate developer, focusing on residential projects with a clear commitment to architecture and design. The company was created in 2015, aiming to lead the Spanish market, with high-quality projects where we use architecture as a transformational agent, capable of energizing and enriching society. Therefore, we rely on prestigious architects and seek out innovative talent. Kronos Homes is #puredesign.
In all our developments, sustainability and integration are seen as fundamental assets.
Responsibility, rigour and dedication define our company’s values as we seek to satisfy and exceed our clients’ expectations at every stage of our projects.
KRONOS HOMES won the XI Porcelanosa Award for Architecture and Interior Design, recognizing its commitment to avant-garde architecture.
Kronos Homes, the residential real estate development brand of Kronos, has been consolidating its presence and position in the Iberian market with significant growth in 2018 and strong forecasts for the year ahead.
The company invested €2 billion in total during 2018 and is aiming to reach €2.4 billion in 2019. Of that amount, €700 million corresponds to investment in land in Spain and Portugal, a figure that it intends to increase by another €300 million in 2019 to reach €1 billion in land.
The focus of Kronos Homes continues to be the major cities and provincial capitals across the whole Iberian peninsula. In this way, whilst in 2018, it finished the year with a housing portfolio of 12,000 units across 16 developments, in 2019, it intends to increase that figure by 4,000 units to reach 16,000 homes in total across 24 developments (…).
In addition, in December 2018, the company delivered its first two developments on the Costa del Sol, Nature and Horizonte, located in Alicante and Benalmádena, respectively (…).
Nature and Horizonte are the first developments that Kronos Homes has delivered since it began its activity in the residential sector in Spain in 2015. The forecasts from Kronos Homes indicate that the firm will deliver 500 more homes across five developments during 2019.
Year after year, the new major players in the house construction sector are seeing the numbers in their growth plans increase. During 2019, the largest property developers created since 2015, and some of those reborn from the ashes during this latest upwards cycle, are expected to approach their cruising speed, above all, the listed companies Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, which have been called to lead the residential construction sector together with Vía Célere. Even so, the sector is still very fragmented with lots of small companies.
Neinor Homes and Vía Célere have become the two entities with the largest number of home deliveries this year. In both cases, 2,000 clients will receive the keys to their homes, according to figures provided to Cinco Días by around twenty property developers. In these forecasts, the companies have detailed three concepts for their plans for 2019: homes that they will launch onto the market, homes that they will start work on and forecast deliveries.
Neinor Homes, created in 2015, and led by Juan Velayos (…) expects to start work on 3,000 homes this year, coming close to the cruising speed that it defined during its IPO, and it will start to market another 2,000 units.
Meanwhile, Vía Célere, controlled by the US fund Värde Partners, is in the middle of integrating the assets of Aelca, the other property developer owned by Värde, which has now emptied its portfolio (…). It is the only one of the large players that is not yet listed on the stock market; its plans in that regard were postponed last year.
The listed firm Aedas, also created in 2017 with land from another US fund, in that case, Castlelake, is also perceiving an upwards turn in its numbers. This year, it will hand over 1,055 homes, start marketing 2,500 homes and start building 3,000 homes, just two years after first appearing on the stage, with David Martínez as its CEO.
Meanwhile, Metrovacesa, the other large listed company, controlled by Santander (and in which BBVA holds a minority stake), clearly leads the business plans, with up to 4,500 homes to be newly marketed and whose construction will be launched. This one-hundred-year-old real estate company, which was cleaned up by the banks following the crisis, launched its new project in 2017 with Jorge Pérez de Leza, from Grupo Lar, as the CEO.
In terms of those entities backed by funds, the rescued firm Habitat also stands out, reactivated last year by Bain Capital, and which is planning to market 3,000 homes this year. Similarly, Cerberus took control of Inmoglacier in 2017 (…). That firm declined to provide its forecasts to this newspaper, but it is also set to play a significant role, given that it has become one of the real estate arms of the US fund, one of the most active in the purchase of assets from the banks and which also owns Haya Real Estate as its servicer.
The group of twenty-odd companies consulted will hand over almost 16,000 homes this year, will start work on 34,000 units and will begin marketing another 30,000 properties. These figures reflect the enormous fragmentation in the sector, which in the last 12 months has started 103,000 homes in total, according to figures from the Ministry of Development as at October 2018.
Small specialist property developers still carry a lot of weight, unlike in other countries where large players exist. Moreover, even though the rate of residential construction has taken off since 2014, it is still well below the peak of 2006 when 865,000 building permits were granted.
In terms of the new players also boosted by the international funds, they include other developers with a high rate of house sales: AQ Acentor (owned by the German fund Aquila), which is going to put 1,700 homes up for sale; Kronos Homes (backed by several European and US investors), which will market another 1,600 homes; and ASG Homes (backed by the British firm ActivumSG), which plans to add another 1,000 homes.
In terms of the survivors of the crisis, Amenabar stands out, the Gipuzkoan company, which expects to start work on 3,608 homes next year and to hand over 1,245 units. Another of the stalwarts is the Madrilenian firm Pryconsa, owned by the Colomer family, which has already reached a high number in terms of house starts: 1,285. In more modest terms, other important firms include the Basque entity Inbisa and the new entity Áurea Homes, the residential subsidiary of the Navarran construction group ACR (…).
Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)
The strategy being pursued by the investment funds to create joint ventures with local property developers through which to star in the resurgence of the real estate sector has reached a new high in the province of Alicante with the alliance between the British fund M&G Investments, a subsidiary of the insurance company Prudential, and the Alicante-based consultancy Quadratia. After starring in one of the largest land purchase operations in the province, with the acquisition from Sareb of the debt associated with the PP-27 of La Vila at the end of last year, M&G and Quadratia have decided to take their partnership to the next level. To this end, they have formed a joint venture company to invest in unique projects on the Costa Blanca and other points along the Spanish Coast: Quadratia Investment Partners (QIP)
“Following the successful launch of the Allonbay Village project in the El Torres de la Vial cove”, explain sources at the company, the British fund has teamed up with the Alicante-based property developer “through its fund DOF IV to back the development of unique residential projects along the Mediterranean coast”. The objective of Quadratia Investment Partners is “to acquire urban land and projects under construction, primarily in the hands of financial institutions in complex situations”, to manage that land and develop unique residential properties close to the sea. The target audience of these projects will be domestic and overseas buyers looking for second homes.
Following its constitution, QIP has already acquired another plot in the La Tellerola sector of La Vila on the beachfront, taking advantage of its strong presence in this municipality, and it has entered the market in Calp, with the purchase of two plots, one of which is going to be used for the development of a building with 100 homes, standing more than 25 storeys high, with views over the Peñón de Ifach and Playa del Arenal. But the new investment group’s interest is not limited to the Costa Blanca. According to the same sources, the firm is looking for land with the same characteristics on the coast of Valencia, and is also already closing several operations on the Costa del Sol, a market that is similar to that of Alicante but which “warmed up” first, according to their explanations.
According to the sources, the consultancy firm Quadratia has specialised in working as a local expert for various investment funds (on behalf of which it undertakes the integral management of projects), including Kronos Homesand ASG Homes, which have also starred in several operations in the sector in the province. In this case, however, the partnership with M&G Investments goes further: the Alicante firm has acquired a “significant” stake in the share capital of the new group, and the CEO of Quadratia, Enrique Gallego, has been appointed to the new group’s Board of Directors. Moreover, the former director of Mediterranean, Pablo Lucas Guerrero, was recently appointed as an independent director, to support this same investment strategy on the Costa del Sol, where the group has now completed its first investment in the Torrox-Nerja area: a 131-home development with panoramic views over the sea (…).
With more than GBP 240 billion under management, M&G is the investment fund management company of the Prudential plc insurance group, listed on the London Stock Exchange and member of the FTSE 100, with more than 160 years in the insurance, investment and loan businesses. In terms of Quadratia, it is led by the second generation of Grupo Alicante Urbana. Founded in 2014, it makes contact with investment funds interested in the residential sector in the province of Alicante and provides them with a comprehensive range of legal services (…).
The data is conclusive: ten cities account for 55% of the residential developments underway in Spain. They constitute a municipal land oligopoly, which is now showing signs of tension on the demand side given the lack of buildable land available for development and the delays by the public administrations when it comes to approving building permits. “The concentration of the population in the major cities is a phenomenon that is going to increase over the next few years”, predicts Sergio Gálvez, Director of Strategy and Investment at the property developer Aedas Homes in the context of the Madrid Real Estate Fair (SIMA) conference on land and its strategic market.
The executive of the listed Spanish company also explained that the delays in the granting of licences in certain cities are lasting for up to ten months. Gálvez regrets that “any delay suffered in the production chain clearly results in a higher sales price for the end client”.
The Director of Aedas, who believes that “the public administrations still have a long way to go in terms of the agility of the licence-granting process”, was accompanied at the roundtable by Ignacio Ocejo, Partner at Kronos Homes. The director of the Spanish property developer turned the spotlight onto financing: “the situation in the financial world has changed drastically with the new cycle; in the past, the supply could have been four times larger”.
Nevertheless, Ocejo was favourable of the fact that land financing is now “much more controlled” because capital can still be obtained under reasonable conditions. “I do not think that it is a problem, the banks themselves are being proactive when it comes to financing; the problem is more that there are fewer entities”, said the Director of Kronos.
Meanwhile, the Commercial Director of the appraisal firm Tinsa, Pedro Soria, seemed more concerned than his roundtable colleagues about land and its overheating (…) “In some places, we are already seeing price caps on land”, says Soria, “the only option left if we want to achieve the desired returns is to raise house prices”. In the event that land prices continue to rise, the Tinsa executive sees a “risk”, nevertheless, the market could be more profitable on the land investment side than when it comes to house building itself.
Spain is seeing an improvement in its new home permits once again, but the figures are still well below the more than 800,000 permits granted in the most active years of the boom in the 2000s. In this regard, Ocejo explains that “in a scenario of stability and compared with the previous cycle”, an increase in new builds at a rate of between 25% and 30% would be “positive”. “A healthy market for me would see the construction of between 130,000 and 160,000 new homes each year in Spain”, added the Partner of Kronos Homes.
Kronos Homeswants to be a leading player in the Catalan residential market. The Spanish property developer has just completed the purchase of two plots in Gavá and Sant Cugat del Vallés. These two operations form part of the significant investment plan that the company has initiated in Cataluña, where it already has investments amounting to €400 million. “The objective is to close at least two more operations in Cataluña before the end of 2018”, explained Manuel Holgado, Partner at the real estate firm, speaking to Eje Prime.
The first of the acquired plots, in Gavá, has a surface area of approximately 173,500 m2, with capacity for the construction of 1,500 homes. The company plans to start marketing this project within two years.
In the case of the plot in Sant Cugat, it is located in the centre of the prime Barcelona city and spans 33,800 m2, on which 320 homes are going to be built. These more than 1,800 homes will be added to the 900 units that the firm currently has underway in four other projects.
Two of those projects are located in Tarragona, a province in the south of Cataluña, with one development in the provincial capital and one in Calafell. Both will start to be marketed this June and the property developer, founded in 2014 by Saïd Hejal, has taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the Madrid Real Estate Fair (SIMA) to unveil the two developments.
The investment by Kronos is Cataluña is going to continue to increase over the coming months and Holgado says that “we would like to close at least two more operations before the end of 2018”. The company’s Director General, Majda Labied, also points out that “we have just opened an office in the centre of Barcelona, which strengthens our 100% commitment to Cataluña”.
Currently, the property developer has two promotions in the province of Barcelona, namely H20 and O12, two residential projects with an innovative design, which are located in the maritime area of Badalona. The first promotion has 252 homes with 25 different types of homes.
Entry into the Costa Brava
Having entered Barcelona and Tarragona, Kronos now only has Girona and Lleida left to conquer. The Costa Brava is one area “where we have been working actively for a while”, explains Holgado, although the property developer has not yet found the right opportunity to start a project there.
The forecast by Kronos Homes for the next four years involves it doubling the number of homes underway in Cataluña at the moment. The real estate firm also has a presence in Madrid, the Costa del Sol, Andalucía and Levante, and wants to branch out into new markets over the next few years. Areas such as Euskadi, for example, have always been on the company’s radar. The firm is keen to invest and position itself as one of the leading property developers in Spain.
Investment of €500 million in land all over Spain
To build homes, you need land and, to that end, Kronos is going to invest €500 million between now and 2021 in the purchase of primarily residential land. The company will thereby acquire sufficient land to build 8,000 homes all over the country.
With a land bank spanning more than 1 million m2, spread between Madrid, Cataluña, Costa del Sol and Alicante, the intention of Hejal and the other shareholders that support him, including, in addition to Holgado and Labied, Ignacio Ocejo and Enrique Feduchy, is to expand the business to more Spanish provinces. The firm is currently making headway in the provinces of Córdoba, Sevilla and Cádiz, amongst others.
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